Lately I have installed Opensuse 13.2 onto my laptop (Lenovo Yoga 2) and I have come across a problem which I have identified as: Hardware Switch.
The wifi adapter has been “hard-blocked” for some reason. I have posted most of the information that is needed under. I`ve had this problem with other distributions of linux as well (many Debian-based linux).
arpad@linux-u5sk:~> lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 048d:8350 Integrated Technology Express, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp.
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 04f2:b40f Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 04f3:0303 Elan Microelectronics Corp.
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0129 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5129 Card Reader Controller
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
linux-u5sk:/home/arpad # rfkill list all
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
4: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
That is all the information that I think would be useful. I`ve had this problem for a long time, recently I got a new computer and I still have the same problem (I have reinstalled the system as well…), and yes airplane mode is turned off.
What I have tried the rfkill unbloack all command. Unfortunately it didn`t work. So what I decided to do was to see if would and update “cure” this problem (and it surprisingly did). The Opensuse 13.2 which I was using was missing a lot of updates.
So after the update, the problem had completely disasappeared, now the “new” problem is that the internet is incredibly slow, I have a router with internet speed of 2 Mb/s, and for some reason the computer loads pages with 300 kb/s. If we were in the 1980s I would say it is amazing… So this 300 kb/s is incredibly slow, it takes ages to load a webpages. I am maximum 5 meters away from the router, when I use windows 10 on this computer (I dualboot windows and opensuse) the internet works fine (even if I am far away from the router). So I would like to ask; is the internet speed for Opensuse limited?
uname -a:
Linux linux-u5sk.site 3.16.7-24-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 3 14:37:06 UTC 2015 (ec183cc) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
What I have tried the rfkill unbloack all command. Unfortunately it didn`t work. So what I decided to do was to see if would and update “cure” this problem (and it surprisingly did). The Opensuse 13.2 which I was using was missing a lot of updates.
Yes, generally a good idea to be fully updated before other troubleshooting measures investigated.
So after the update, the problem had completely disasappeared, now the “new” problem is that the internet is incredibly slow, I have a router with internet speed of 2 Mb/s, and for some reason the computer loads pages with 300 kb/s.
Is the 2Mbps figure from an online speed test? What sort of speed do normally get? Can you compare wireless vs wired speed?
To get idea on wireless link performance, run the following and report back
Create /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf and use the following parameters
options iwlwifi swcrypto=1 11n_disable=8
These options will take effect at next boot.
A user also suggests that using a more recent kernel provides improved power management support for this wireless hardware, so that power saving can more easily be controlled. It’s all explained there, so I’ll leave you to read/research further
I have used the following command as requested: /usr/sbin/iwconfig
linux-u5sk:/home/arpad # /usr/sbin/iwconfig
wlp1s0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"TelenorBA18B3"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 9C:97:26:BA:18:B3
Bit Rate=6 Mb/s Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:on
Link Quality=40/70 Signal level=-70 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:37 Invalid misc:252 Missed beacon:0
lo no wireless extensions.
I usually have a download speed of 2Mbs (officially stated by the instruction manual, and that is the result from speed tests). When it is a wired connection, it is basically the same (to be precise, 2.1Mbs).
The laptop is quite close to the router, and it works perfectly (except when I use OpenSUSE, the download speed goes down to 300Kbs instead of 2Mbs.
Deano, I tried to enter the command which you have told me, but I do not know how to create that directory. The links you have given are for Ubuntu and Debian based Linux, so I do not think those will work. I have read them both, they helped me understand the problem and concept of what I need to do (unfortunately its for Ubuntu).
Your iwconfig output reports a very low bit rate (6Mb/s). There are a number of factors that could influence that.
I usually have a download speed of 2Mbs (officially stated by the instruction manual, and that is the result from speed tests). When it is a wired connection, it is basically the same (to be precise, 2.1Mbs).
Okay, that is consistent with what you mentioned earlier about your low internet speed, rather than any internal network problem as such. (That said, your wireless link is poor at 6Mb/s and seems to be a known issue.)
Deano, I tried to enter the command which you have told me, but I do not know how to create that directory.
The directory exists already. It is the custom file you need to create. These are basic techniques to learn. You could do it via a terminal editor (eg nano) with root privileges using
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
or using a graphical editor (appropriate to the desktop environment in use)…
KDE:
kdesu kwrite /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
Gnome:
gnomesu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
The links you have given are for Ubuntu and Debian based Linux, so I do not think those will work. I have read them both, they helped me understand the problem and concept of what I need to do (unfortunately its for Ubuntu).
That makes no difference here. They all use the same kernel driver for this hardware, and the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory is used for kernel module configuration.